This is gonna suck!
by purpleflames
Summary: They were best friends .Keyword 'were' and now she's back and she's confused but he, well he's just obnoxious.
1. Chapter 1

**Um it's my first time writing Naruto fan fiction so any criticism would be appreciated a whole lot so please, please pretty please with a cherry on top would you review?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing at all**

Prologue

Is it odd to think that in one minute your entire life can change? It's the smallest things that cause the greatest of changes in our life, in our way of thinking, in the way we see the world.

It took a single phone call for me to see that things would never be the same again.

_----Flashback----_

_I stood in the waiting room of the hospital .The smell of disinfectant which was so familiar wasn't comforting._

_Or maybe it was the fact that both my parents were in surgery right now fighting for their lives that wasn't comforting._

_I looked out the window, Konoha was beautiful at night .I saw my reflection in the windows , my pink hair a mess , green eyes red but not from tears. I wouldn't cry, I had decided when I heard the news. And I stick to my decisions._

_Just then the red light of the Operation Theater went off . came out, her expression said it all._

"_I'm sorry Sakura, but we couldn't save them."_

_It took all of my effort to nod to swallow the tears that burned behind my eyes.'_

'_I refuse to cry'_

_But I needed....... I needed to talk to someone about it._

_Almost automatically my hands dialled a number so familiar that it required no thought on my part._

_After three rings finally someone picked up the phone._

"_Sasuke-"I started before Ino's giggling voice came over the phone._

"_Hey Saki, Sasuke's a bit busy right now! He'll -stop that! - Call you back later kay? Sasuke I swear-"_

_With a click the line went dead._

_I don't know how long I stood there motionless, but I know that when I finally came to my senses there were tears on my cheeks even though I didn't remember crying. When I needed my best friend he wasn't there._

_It seemed like everyone left in the end anyways .No matter what promises they make._

_He called again, the next day._

"_Hey Sakura- "_

"_I can't talk right now." I said and cut the call. People don't talk during burials after all._

_Over the next days I was too busy packing to mourn let alone talk to anyone. I had an aunt in London and a scholarship to one of the best medical colleges there._

_There was nothing left for me here but memories. And the good memories seemed to be buried under all the bad ones._

_Buried .Like my parents were._

_I boarded the plane two days after my parents died. There was no one to see me off .I remember how I'd imagined it in my mind. My mom would be telling me to be careful eat properly and my Dad would be telling me not to get distracted by any boys. That none of them would be worth it .And Sasuke would be there too telling me not to forget him. Naruto would be sulking and Hina-chan would be consoling him .Tenten telling me to keep practicing with the katana._

_And I'd be there crying, so sad to see them all fade away._

_There were no tears, no goodbyes and I wasn't sad. Just the noise of my shoes slapping against the marble floors as I walked away from my past my present and what would have been my future._

_As I sent a message to all those who would actually notice my absence I broke the promise I made to myself and cried._

That was 4 years ago and here I was on a flight back to the one place I did not want to be. I was going back to Konoha . Oh goodie.

Can't you just sense my joy?

**Please review ? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my god I can't believe I actually managed another chapter!(Thought I'm not sure if it can be called a chapter I mean it's so dang short!)**

**Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, and the alerts as well it really means a lot to know that someone actually wants to read this!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except a bottle of black nail polish....that's dried out. T_T**

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"Is it your first time to Konoha?" The man seated beside me asked. He was dressed very oddly, a scarf completely covering the bottom half of his face and the silver hair that seemed to defy gravity made him stand out even more.

Since the plane had taken off I had been struggling to breathe. Terrified at the thought of bumping into someone I knew, I had taken to clutching the arm rest tightly.

"No...I – I used to live there actually."

"Me too. Ever been to Ichiraku's?"

I let out a laugh at that .Ichiraku's had been our stronghold of sorts. I couldn't remember a single afternoon when Naruto hadn't pulled us to the ramen stall.

I realised that he was still waiting for an answer. "Yes I have. Are you visiting or..?"

"I travel back and forth a lot. You seem a bit young to be travelling without a guardian. Running away?"He quirked an eyebrow in question. Like many people I had met he too seemed to have thought me to be a high school I still look like a teenager!

"I'm 22 thank you very much. Just going there for work."

"Really?" I wonder what he was surprised by, the fact that I worked or that I wasn't a teenager.

"Yeah."

"Do you like your work?"

"Absolutely!"

I love working in medical research. It's the reason I even agreed to come to Konoha .No matter how much I didn't want to go back, the facility and staff at the Katon were the best in the world .Their program boasted the most brilliant of minds and being invited to be a part of that team was an honour.

"Then why are you so terrified?"He indicated my clenched hands with a tilt of his head.

"I just ...It's a long story."

"It's a long flight."

Maybe it was the fact that I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown or maybe it was the fact that he wasn't pushing. But the next thing I knew I was spilling my heart out to an utter stranger.

"....and now I'm just a bit scared .Should I be scared? I think I should be scared. What do you think? Am I just being paranoid? I mean Konoha's a big place right? Right?" I started to get a bit hysterical towards the end.

"Hm .Maybe you are, maybe you aren't, it'll work out in the end."

"Why?"

"Because everything happens for a reason. If you do run into someone you knew it's just the way it was meant to happen. If they're your friends I'm sure they'll understand if they don't then well they weren't your friends to begin with. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't mind."

But that concept never really appealed to me. I mean it sounds like a load of that 'fate' crap that Neji used to keep going on and on about. And the whole 'those who matter don't mind' thing makes no sense! I mean if my friend was a drug addict I'd sure as hell mind and I'd try to help them out so does that mean that I wouldn't matter?

He sighed as if he could read my mind."Look you're thinking way too much about this. Do you regret leaving?"

"No." I had no doubt that leaving was the right decision for me at the time.

He shrugged. "Then just remember that."

"Thanks." I said and really meant it. While I was still scared I had decided to abandon the plan of hiding out and only coming out at night. No one but Batman could carry it off anyways.

Before I knew it we were in Konoha and deplaning.

"If you ever need any help," he said handing over a business card," feel free to call."

It read in bold jet black letters against a rich ivory base Hatake Kakashi with a few numbers under it.

"Thanks." As he turned to leave I remembered that we never really introduced ourselves." Hey! The name's Sakura."

"No kidding! Suits you"he said with a pointed look at my bubblegum pink locks.

"Well there's my ride."

I turned only to see a very familiar blue-eyed blonde with whisker marks on his cheeks, next to a tall dark eyed man with black hair resembling a chicken's ass staring at me in shock.

"Oh _crap_."

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**So what did you guys think? Was it okay? Was it cliché? Did it make you want to throw up?! Tell me everything! **

**Please review!**

**^_^**


	3. Chapter 3

**A much longer chapter this time. Anyways updates will be pretty slow after this .My exams begin soon T_T.**

**Disclaimer: - I own nothing .Even my panda plushie has abandoned me!**

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"That was the most awkward time of my life!" I said into the phone. On the other side of the globe there was a tiny brunette named Tsuki listening to me talk about what was undeniably the most 'twilight zone' experience of my life.

She sighed used to getting frantic phone calls from me in the middle of the night. "Tell me what happened."

---Flashback---

"Oh _crap_."

As soon as I saw Naruto and Sasuke there the words just fell out of my seemed unperturbed and walked right towards them and I followed as if in a daze.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto said in a questioning tone like he couldn't quite believe that I was really there. Next to him Sasuke stood the only indicator of his shock was the slight widening of his eyes and the clenched fists at his side.

I giggled nervously. "In the flesh!" I said weakly.

Before I knew it I was being held in the tightest hug known to mankind, a Naruto hug.

"I can't believe you're really here!" he said letting me go (after I turned blue from lack of air) still in shock .But I couldn't exactly blame him after all I cut myself off from Konoha and anything to do with Konoha for four years.

"Teme its Sakura!" He said turning to Sasuke.

"I can see that dobe." he turned to indicate Kakashi. "You guys know each other?"

Before I could say anything Kakashi broke in. "We just met. Sakura has just been telling me all about how much she really loves coming back."The sarcasm was lost on Naruto who beamed while Sasuke raised an eyebrow in question.

"It's so good to have you back Kura! How long are you going to be here? Are you going to stay in a hotel or are you staying at your old place? Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?"

"Um I don't really know how long I'll be staying here .I'll be living at the old place for the time being. I might look for someplace else to live though."

Just then Sasuke turned and looked me in the eye for the first time."You never answered his question."

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" He said and I stood there for what seemed to be an eternity wondering what answer I should give. Should I tell them the truth, that I never intended to ever run into any old faces or should I just lie my way out?

"I... didn't think it necessary." I was hoping he'd just leave it at that and let it be but as I saw him open his mouth I interrupted. "Look guys it's been really great meeting you and all but I really need to get some sleep so if you don't mind I'm going to take off now."

"We'll give you a lift home." Sasuke said and picked up my suitcase and started walking off with it.

"Hey! Just a minute there I never said you could do that!"

Naruto started whining. "But Sakura we haven't seen you in such a long time! It'll give us a chance to catch up on stuff. I mean you probably don't even know that teme's been named the Chief Inspector! And you can tell us about everything you've been up to in London."

"Yeah and maybe you can tell us why you never called. Or wrote .Or e-mailed."Sasuke said gruffly.

"You know _I_ was the one you were supposed to be dropping off." Kakashi said breaking into the conversation again complaining loudly and I grasped at the opportunity.

"He's right I mean you don't want to just forget about Kakashi like that do you? It's very rude!"

"Your place is on the way to Kakashi's and we don't really care about being rude to him. The man reads porn in public."

Seeing as how there was no way out of it I resigned myself to a long ride home.

---End flashback---

"And?"

"And what?"

"And then what happened in the car ride home?!"

"Oh Naruto updated me on all the gossip in Konoha while Sasuke drove like a maniac. I got lucky too. Just when Naruto said 'So what have you been up to?' we reached home."

"Hmm."

"But I'm meeting all them again this Saturday .That should be interesting"

"Hmm."

"Say something! I need you to comfort me damn it!"

"Czechoslovakia."

"What?!"

I could almost hear her shrug on the other side. "Hey I said something."

"You're so weird."

"And you love me for it." Sensing that it wasn't helping me much she sighed heavily and continued. "Look the difficult part is done. They know you're here. Obviously they love you soo much they're willing to overlook the fact that you went into hiding .Apart from that well just think of it as closure. You need it. You don't want it to come up years later and bite you in the ass! Just roll with the punches and remember to breathe and keep a paper bag around for when you start hyperventilating."

"Thanks Tsuki. I needed that."

"No problem and if things get really bad just turn into a workaholic and bury yourself in ...whatever it is you do."

"It's research and development! What is so difficult to remember in that?!And another thing-"

"Yeah yeah could you keep it down I'm trying to watch Phineas and Ferb here!"

I mock gasped."You're watching Phineas and Ferb without me?!How could you?!"

"It was very easy actually I just turned on the TV and bam! There he was saying 'Hey Ferb I know what we're going to do today!'"

"Anything else?"

"_You're_ the one who called _me_. I still don't understand why you mind so much I mean you actually liked these people and probably still do. What are you so damn afraid of anyway? "

"I don't know. I'm just ...I don't know." I sighed. Because in all honesty I still wasn't sure what I was afraid of.

"Oh well whatever. So did you meet any hot guys?"

--------

It was finally Saturday.

I walked the way down to the park where we were all meeting. The sun was out, birds were chirping and it was a beautiful day as I strolled down in my best jeans, a pretty red baby doll dress and red ballet flats.

Not.

It started off that way and so I decided that it would be the perfect time to go around the neighbourhood reminiscing. And then mid way it started raining. A lot. I ran soaked from head to toe to the park. And then slipped. Three times.

I got to the park looking like a drowned rat. A drowned, pink haired rat. I saw Tenten, Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto there safe under the gazebo. They looked at me with wide eyes and poorly hidden laughter as I stomped my way over.

"Sakura-Chan what happened?!You look like a drowned pink rat!"

I snapped and launched myself at his throat with a growl as Tenten laughed.

"Well you haven't changed a bit have you Sakura?!"She said still laughing.

"Why you little-"

"Really Sakura I would have thought you'd know better than to walk in the rain."

"It wasn't raining earlier!"I protested.

"Hn."

"Don't patronise me!"

"Hn."

"Again what is it with you and your hn's? It's called a dictionary might want to get yourself one! Even Naruto has a more extensive vocabulary then you do!"

"Hey!"

"What?!" I yelled turning to Naruto.

Before I knew it I was wrapped up in the tightest hug ever. "It's good to have you back." he said softly.

I hugged him back just as tightly .I hadn't realised just how much I missed them all before. Against all expectations, it was good to be back in Konoha.

"So what have you been up to in London?" Tenten asked once we all settled down and I had a towel around me. When I asked Hinata why she had a towel with her she shrugged and said 'When dating Naruto prepare for any emergency'.

"Nothing much. Got my degree and all that jazz. It's a great place really. Expensive as hell but great."

"What are your aunt and uncle like?"Naruto asked. Family meant a lot to him since he never had one of his own.

"They're okay I guess. They're not really parent material. Just shipped me off to medical school. I see them very rarely .I was kind of adopted into my friend's family really. Like a foster child. They are the Weasley's to my Harry Potter."

"Nerd." Sasuke scoffed.

I glared at him before continuing."They took me in .Helped me get over the whole ordeal."

I didn't need to tell them what I meant by 'ordeal'.

"But Sakura why'd you have to leave without saying goodbye?" Tenten asked softly."We could have helped you too you you'd just let us."

"I know you would I was going to leave anyways wasn't I .And it helped me grow up."

'**And it helped you get over Sasuke.' **

'Yeah it –Hey! What are you doing in my mind? I thought you left! Or died or something!'

'**Nope not dead or gone. Just been asleep. But now I'm back'**

'Crap.'

'**Muahahaha! You know it. And I'm going to find you a man!'**

'I don't want a man thank you!'

'**Sure you do. How else are we going to show that Uchiha we're over him?!'**

'We don't need to show him anything!'

'**Yes we do!'**

'No we don't!'

'**Yes we do!'**

'No we don't!'

'**No we don't!'**

'Yes we do!'

'**Glad we agree Outer!'**

Remind me never to argue with myself again. I tend to lose.

* * *

**Please review and I was wondering if I should try writing from a different POV. What do you guys think?**

**Flames are welcome!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so after two months a new chapter, updating regularly is clearly not my forte but in my (weak) defense I had exams and then I just lost the line of thought I had for this story.**

**If you have suggestions on how to make it better or would rather like something to be different please PM me and I shall try to incorporate it into the story.**

**Oh and Orochimaru makes an appearance in this chappie and he might just have an actual influence on the storyline. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Tsuki's character and...no I don't own anything else .T_T**

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Not really what it _really _was, was my first day at work. I was all decked out in my professional gear from the boring messy bun, the black spectacles to my lab coat. And the clothes underneath but that doesn't matter. What matters is the lab coat. I love my lab coat.

My preciousssss.

Ahem.

I walked up to the reception where was supposed to meet me.

"Hi, I'm waiting for a ?" I asked the receptionist who was filing her nail. They were long and vicious, almost claw-like. They were painted to match her red hair.

She ignored me and continued filing her nails like I wasn't even there.

"Um hello? Are you deaf? I am looking for a Dr. Mi-sa-ki." I said slowly enunciating every word so that she could understand this time. Incompetence was not tolerated by me.

"Haruno-sama?" A soft voice came from behind me somewhere. I turned to see a person even shorter than me (and I'm like 5' 2.5") with a lab coat on and a nametag which read Dr. N. Misaki.

"That's me. You must be , it's nice to meet you."

"Hi. I'll be showing you around the institute and everything. "She said before looking at the red-haired chick embarrassedly. "I'm sorry about Karin's behaviour she's a bit..." she left the sentence incomplete and made a face instead.

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"This isn't the usual way to get to your lab but unfortunately there was a bit of an ...incident and so we'll have to go through here for today." Misaki said while leading me through a labyrinth of labs which were walled by a sheet of glass .She hurried through very fast and I wondered what had her so spooked.

"What's wrong?" I asked because it was a bit difficult for me to keep up and the labs didn't seem that scary.

"Nothing it's just that..." she looked around a bit shiftily. "It's just that these labs are primarily used by the director and his team and well they creep me out a bit."

"What do they work on?" I asked, curious about the kind of work my boss does.

"Anti-venoms .They're working on finding an anti-venom that works on any type of poison. So they have a lot of snakes and other such...creatures but..."she stopped hesitating again, "I saw the light on in the labs a few weeks ago late at night and there were...I thought...well I thought I saw some cadavers."

"Cadavers? Why would they need cadavers?"

When dealing with an immune system issue you test on people with an actual immune system which works. And dead bodies do _not_ have a working immune system.

"I have no idea."She said. "Which is why I get scared walking past these labs."

She started hurrying again and I tried to keep up but I was wearing new heels and after a while of trying to keep up my foot twisted in the heels and I had to lean against a wall to sort myself out. By the time I looked up again Dr. Misaki was nowhere in sight and neither was anything living. Anything living that was human that is.

I looked through the glass wall I was leaning on and saw at a lower level a lab filled with a lot of cases .Upon closer inspection I realised that all the cases contained snakes and most of them recognisably poisonous. A shiver ran down my spine when I saw a black mamba amongst the many reptiles and I turned away hoping that Dr. Misaki would have noticed that I wasn't behind her anymore. Snakes were never my favourite animals. I was the cuddly little kittens kind of person.

"Hello there." I whirled, startled at the sudden voice which spoke silkily from behind me. I saw a very pretty person with glowing yellow eyes which had cat like pupils, black hair with an almost plum coloured sheen to it and purple eye shadow.

"Um Hi." I said suddenly nervous. I always felt like that around pretty women.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Dr. Misaki's voice came from behind me. What is it with people calling out from behind me?I mean seriously the first time she met me she did the same thing, calling out from behind then this Orochimaru chick says hello from behind me too and now again Dr. Misaki calls out to me from behind my back! Do they get some sort of sick perversion from watching me jump a foot in the air?

"Haruno-sama we really must be going." Dr. Misaki cut me off when I was in the middle of my mental rants.

Orochimaru turned to me bowing slightly before leaving with a smirk .Clearly I had missed something.

"That's the director." Misaki said nervously. She seems like a really nervy type of person. Like _really_ nervy. I mean I'm not one to preach about fits of nervousness but she was really freaking me out.

"She's really pretty! I wonder what her parents were thinking though, naming her Orochimaru. I always figured the director was a guy because of the name."I said.

"He _is_ a guy." Misaki said.

The silence that followed was one in which crickets chirped .Literally .Apparently that's what they fed the snakes.

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"It's not funny!" I yell at Tenten who is yet to stop laughing and pick up a pillow to beat her with.

"Yes it is!" Tsuki says from the PC. That's right I was being laughed at from across the world on a video call. I wonder to myself why did I even tell them the story?

"Because you're an attention seeking beyotch." Tsuki says from the video call. I'm sure Tenten would say that too (the two of them can read minds its freaky and I feel rather replaced_) but she is yet to stop rolling on the floor with laughter.

Just then the bell rang and I got up to open the door. After unlocking the many locks and the chain I found myself staring into obsidian eyes.

"Sasuke!" I squeaked and proceeded to clear my throat."What are you doing here?"

"Hn."

"Well?"

"We need to talk." He commanded. Now I don't know about you but I personally hate it when people tell me what to do.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about Sasuke however if you want to just command me a bit more, go ahead. I don't guarantee to listen to you but you don't seem to know any other way of talking to people." I'll admit my response was a bit harsh but hey he was really annoying me and I had just been laughed at for the past hour( yes an _hour _).

"I think everyone knows that we need to talk , however that doesn't mean we will talk and apart from that you don't really know how to have a conversation in actual words instead of grunts and glares so- "

"May we talk sometime please?" He said gritting out the last word. Throughout my tirade he had been growing more and more flustered with every word(something I took great delight in) and ultimately cut me off with this politely worded request.

"Why of course we may! Say Thursday at the new sushi place downtown? Perfect, you can pick me up at 6." I slammed the door in his face without waiting for a response. If we needed to talk so badly he'd make the time. And if he couldn't then I can just avoid him and blame him for it.

"**Thank you very much for keeping our Fridays free! There might be a brain in this hollow expanse I call home after all."**

'Wait what do you mean by that?'

"**Well Friday is like date night. It's universally accepted as the day you go on dates. Wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea would we."**

"Friday night isn't date night!"

"Yeah it is." Tenten said.

"What is?"

"Friday is date night. Everyone knows that." I hadn't realised I said it out loud! "By the way I set you up on a date for this Friday."

"WHAT?"

"I set you up on a date this Friday. It's this guy I know from work he's really nice and don't tell Neji I said this but unbelievably hot. The kind of hot that you just want to ..."

I stared at her in shock as she went on and on describing how she'd want to rape the guy.

"**Niice. I like Tenten. I like her very much."**

'Oh please you haven't even met the guy.'

"**But this Friday I will! Oh please Outer if you don't want to go on the date let me go instead you can stay inside your head for the day please please please?"**

And that is how I ended up with a hot date on Friday and a friendly outing with a very hot friend on a Thursday.

"**Life is gooood"**

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**Please review! I need the and can anyone tell me why some of my words keep disappearing?**


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